The Hall of Play and Music

“Life is a child playing, moving the pieces on the chessboard” – Heraclitus of Ephesus
In this room are all those works in the Correale collection that represent, two activities that have always been indispensable to living beings, play and music, which is itself something to play.
The exhibition brings together pictorial and decorative works of art ranging from the 4th century B.C. to the 19th century, which bears the imprint in the materials, be it stone, canvas, wood or bronze, the eternal connection between the human being and the most pleasant of pastimes.
The oldest object is certainly a lekanis with a red-figure lid, from a Campanian workshop and dating back to the second half of the 4th century BC. The cup – probably used as a container for preparing and serving food or for holding and storing spices, cosmetics, toys, yarns – has on its lid the image of two sirens with gathered hair and the body half of a woman with bare breasts and half of a bird: one is depicted in the act of playing the zither, the other a double flute. Also delightful is the small Erma di Pan, from the Claudian Age. Pan is identified in classical mythology as the protector of shepherding and as such a devotee of music.
Among the works on display is a rare painting of the game of Biribisso, by Francesco Celebrano: the table represents a very ancient game, which already in the 14th century thrilled a vast public of all social classes, including the royal courts. The reason for the great passion for this game is easily understood: the Biribisso was a game of chance, which allowed enormous winnings. The player would place his bet on one or more of the 70 numbered or figured squares into which the game board was divided. The bank would draw from a bag one number out of the 70 or a figure: the number drawn won 64 times the bet, all the others lost or paid the bank! Chronicles of the time recount how players would pledge entire fortunes: for these reasons, the game of Biribisso ended up being banned.
Another remarkable object on display in the hall is the historical piano, the Fortepiano. Made entirely of wood and without metal reinforcements in the structure, it has timbre and sound characteristics that are very different from modern pianos. Considered the forerunner of the modern piano, it was developed in Florence around 1700 by Bartolomeo Cristofori, a brilliant craftsman from Padua in the service of Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici, and was the instrument of choice for Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven
The exquisitely crafted bronze sculpture depicting the Maestro di Violino (or wandering violin player) belongs to Giovan Battista Amendola’s production and it’s a work that excels for its extraordinary attention to detail, such as the casing containing the precious working instrument, held tightly under the arm of the chilly traveller.
The collection of clocks and watches of fine Italian, English, French and German workmanship (17th and 19th centuries), which mark the passing of the hours with their silver chimes, is also beautiful and important. The clock made of mother-of-pearl and gilded bronze, with porcelain figures from Meissen (18th century France) is considered to be of particular importance. The dial is signed Jean-Baptiste Baillon, who was a watchmaker to the French court from 1751 to 1772, while the carillon is the work of Antoine Foullet. No fewer than eleven chimes are housed inside the sound box: brief musical hints that are brought back to us from the past, making us relive the splendour of times gone by.